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MISHAWAKA, Ind. & CHICAGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Franciscan Alliance and Cigna (NYSE: CI) have expanded their accountable
care initiative aimed at improving the quality of care for Cigna
customers to Northern Indiana, effective Jan. 1, 2014. The collaboration
focuses on providing coordinated, cost-efficient health care to improve
the overall health status of the Cigna population in Central, and now
Northern Indiana.

The Franciscan Alliance Accountable Care Organization® includes more
than 350 physicians located throughout Northern Indiana, as well as
Franciscan Alliance Northern Indiana Region hospitals in Crown Point,
Dyer, Hammond, Michigan City and Munster.

“We’re pleased to expand our accountable care initiatives into a more
collaborative relationship with Cigna,” Gene Diamond, chief executive
officer of Franciscan Alliance’s Northern Indiana Region, said, adding,
“Jointly coordinating the delivery of care to cost-effectively improve
the health of those we serve is the challenge we’ve embraced. We’re
confident higher quality outcomes will result from this relationship.”

“This model stresses the value of care over the volume of services
provided, with our organizations collaborating to improve the health and
the experience of Cigna customers," said Peter McCauley, M.D., regional
medical executive for Cigna's Northeast region, which includes the
Midwest. "Working together, our goal is to change the health care system
from one that focuses on treating people after they are already sick
into a system that emphasizes coordination, prevention and wellness. We
are pleased to expand these efforts into Northern Indiana."

The long-term goal of the initiative is to build a delivery model that
improves quality through better coordination of care, while taking
unnecessary or duplicative costs out of the health care system, reducing
costs for Cigna customers and their employers.

Critical to the program’s success are complex case managers employed by
Franciscan Alliance who are part of the physician-led care team and
serve as clinical care coordinators. They help patients with chronic
conditions or other health challenges navigate the health care system.
For example, they identify patients discharged from the hospital who
might be at risk for readmission, help patients get the follow-up care
or screenings they need, identify any issues related to medications and
help prevent chronic conditions from worsening.

The care coordinators use patient-specific data from Cigna to help them
identify patients in need of these services and are aligned to a team of
Cigna case managers to ensure a high degree of collaboration between the
two organizations. Care coordinators can also help patients schedule
appointments, provide health education and refer patients to the Cigna
health management and wellness programs that may be available to them
through their employer’s benefit plan.

Cigna has 86 collaborative
accountable care initiatives in 27 states, encompassing more than
880,000 commercial customers and more than 35,000 doctors, including
more than 16,000 primary care physicians and more than 19,000
specialists. Cigna launched its first collaborative accountable care
program in 2008 and will reach its goal to have 100 of them in place
with one million customers in 2014.

Collaborative accountable care is one component of the company's
approach to physician engagement for health improvement, which also
includes the innovative Cigna-HealthSpringSM care model for
Medicare customers. Today, well over one million Cigna and
Cigna-HealthSpring customers benefit from more than 250 engaged
physician relationships across 31 states, with more than 62,000 doctors
participating, including more than 22,000 primary care physicians and
more than 40,000 specialists.

About Franciscan Alliance

Franciscan Alliance is one of the largest Catholic health care systems
in the Midwest with 13 hospitals throughout Indiana and Illinois.
Franciscan Alliance serves a geographic area with a population of 3.7
million people, provides care for more than 2.9 million outpatient
visits and completes more than 100,000 inpatient discharges every year.
To learn more about Franciscan Alliance, visit: www.franciscanalliance.org.

About Cigna

Cigna Corporation (NYSE: CI) is a global health service company
dedicated to helping people improve their health, well-being and sense
of security. All products and services are provided exclusively by or
through operating subsidiaries of Cigna Corporation, including
Connecticut General Life Insurance Company, Cigna Health and Life
Insurance Company, Life Insurance Company of North America and Cigna
Life Insurance Company of New York. Such products and services include
an integrated suite of health services, such as medical, dental,
behavioral health, pharmacy, vision, supplemental benefits, and other
related products including group life, accident and disability
insurance. Cigna maintains sales capability in 30 countries and
jurisdictions, and has approximately 80 million customer relationships
throughout the world. To learn more about Cigna®, including links to
follow us on Facebook or Twitter, visit www.cigna.com.